Food & Drink
Prue Leith thought her days of writing cookery books were over until she signed up to Bake Off. Now, she’s got her passion and appetite back
Recipes from Bake Off’s Prue Leith, plus Rose Murray Brown picks the best wines from Piedmont
When I gave up writing cookbooks to concentrate on novels, I found, somewhat to my surprise, that food kept creeping into my fiction. Characters would turn out to be chefs or cooks or restaurateurs, and somehow a great deal of cooking went on.
But I still had no thoughts of returning to cookery writing, and it is now over 20 years since I wrote, or even co-authored, a cookbook. It wasn’t just that I hadn’t the time to write both cookbooks and novels, it was also that I felt stale. I knew I could knock out another reliable, solid cookbook, but I didn’t feel inspired. Somehow, with all the years of cookery writing, catering, teaching and restaurants, I’d lost that deep interest that makes a great cookery writer. And anyway, there were wonderful younger cookery writers appearing, with new ideas, new interests, new ingredients, new and imaginative takes on the art, necessity and science that is cooking.
My time had come and gone, and that was that, I thought.
Until I joined The Great British Bake Off. I couldn’t, I discovered, spend three months in a tent full of totally committed bakers and NOT want to get back into food writing.
I began to feel that long-forgotten excitement of inventing recipes and returning to old favourites. It has been pure joy to be back in the kitchen, sometimes adding new twists to recipes I’ve always loved. I brought in the brilliant young cook Georgina Fuggle to help me whittle down the selection and test. Since then, most of the struggles have been to keep it down to 100 or so recipes. n @Prueleith
Prue: My All-time Favourite Recipes by Prue Leith is published by Bluebird, £25. Photographs by David Loftus.
Squash tatin with harissa butter
If you like American pumpkin pie, you’ll love this. It’s a savoury dish that’s a bit sweet, but spicy too, and huge fun to make.
Serves six
1 butternut squash (about 800g), peeled and cut into 2-3cm (1in) rounds 1 tbsp coriander seeds 1 tbsp thyme leaves 3 tbsp olive oil 40g salted butter 1 tbsp maple syrup 1 tsp cumin seeds 2 tsp harissa paste 500g all-butter puff pastry salt and pepper to season a small handful of mint leaves to serve
1 Heat the oven to 220C/gas Mark 7. Put the squash in a large roasting tin, seeds and all. Add the coriander seeds, thyme and 2 tablespoons of the oil, then mix well. Spread out evenly and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes, turning halfway through.
2 Meanwhile, put the remaining olive oil, along with the butter, maple syrup and cumin seeds, in a 24cm (9½ in) ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat. Heat, swirling until bubbling, for about a minute, then remove from the heat and add the harissa paste. Arrange the roasted squash slices flat on the base of the frying pan, on top of the mixture. Use all the slices, adding a second layer if needed. Allow to cool slightly.
3 On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry until it is about 4mm (¼ in) thick and large enough to cover the frying pan. Using the rolling pin to pick the pastry up, carefully drape it over the squash, letting the edges overhang the sides of the pan. Trim off the excess pastry with scissors, leaving about 1cm (½ in) all the way round, to allow for ‘shrinking’ as it cooks. Tuck the overhanging pastry down between the squash and the frying pan. Make a few slits in the pastry to allow the steam to escape. Bake for 30 minutes, until brown. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
4 Place a lipped serving plate upside down over the pastry, then, using oven gloves, carefully flip the whole thing over. Remove the pan, replacing any escaped slices of squash, if needed. Scatter with the mint and serve.
Ultimate cottage pie with black pudding
Cottage pie can be a sorry affair: grey, wet mince under watery mash, neither with much flavour. Or it can be sublime: rich, dark mince with creamy mash and a crusty, cheesy top. It’s all in the frying, so follow the instructions below and never mind if the cooker top ends up a mess.
Serves four
500g lean minced beef 100g black pudding 3 rashers of rindless streaky bacon, diced 250g Maris Piper potatoes, cut into 5-6cm (2in) chunks 500g sweet potatoes, cut into 5-6cm (2in) chunks about 50g butter 2 tbsp grated strong Cheddar cheese 1 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs cooking oil for frying 1 large onion, finely chopped 1 celery stick, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes 1 tbsp tomato purée a pinch of dried or 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme salt and pepper to season
1 Heat a tablespoon of oil in a heavybased frying pan. If the mince is in a lump, flatten it on a plate. If it is in a supermarket pack, keep it flat. Press the slab of mince into the really hot pan using a fish slice, and leave it there, without fiddling with it, for 2 minutes or more, then sneak a look to see if it’s really brown. Flip it over and repeat. When both sides are brown, break it up to brown all the meat. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drop into a saucepan. Cook the black pudding as you have the mince, then remove with a slotted spoon and add to the saucepan.
2 ‘Deglaze’ the frying pan by adding a splash of water and loosening the stuck-on bits with the fish slice. Tip onto the cooked meat. Turn down the heat under the pan and, using more oil as needed, fry the bacon, onion, celery and garlic until just turning brown. Stir in the tomatoes and bring to the boil, still stirring, then pour into the pan with the meat and black pudding. Add the tomato purée and thyme, and season. Simmer gently for 45 minutes, or until the sauce is thick and syrupy.
3 If the sauce is too thick, add a little water; if too runny, simmer until it is thick and barely liquid, stirring now and then to stop it sticking. Season well, then spoon into a pie dish deep enough for the mixture to reach 2-3cm (1in) from the top. Smooth the top, then allow to cool a bit and form a skin.
4 Heat the oven to 180C/gas Mark 4 and start on the mash. Boil the potatoes and the sweet potatoes in separate saucepans of lightly salted water for 15-25 minutes until tender enough to mash.
5 Drain well and return to the pans. Add one or two thick slices of butter to each and mash well with a hand masher or stick blender, until light and smooth. Combine the two purées and season with salt and pepper.
6 Top the mince with spoonfuls of the mash, starting around the edges, until covered. Gently press down with the back of a fork. Mix the cheese and crumbs together and sprinkle on top of the pie. Bake for 25 minutes if the meat and mash are still hot, 45-50 minutes if they are cold.
Devil’s food cake
This is simply the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten. It was given to me by Rebecca, who works behind the scenes for Bake Off. She is a brilliant baker. She says the recipe is her mum’s. So thank you, Rebecca’s mum. It’s so lovely that recipes get passed along, spreading joy to the world.
Serves 12-16
75g cocoa powder, sifted 150g light brown sugar 200ml double cream 2 tsp vanilla paste 335g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 550g butter plus extra for greasing 225g caster sugar 3 large eggs 450g dark chocolate, finely chopped, and another 150g for the decoration (70 per cent cocoa solids)
1 For the chocolate frosting, pour the cream into a saucepan, add 350g of the the butter and heat, stirring occasionally, until it’s melted. Bring to just below boiling point, then remove from the heat. Add 450g of
the chocolate and whisk until smooth and glossy. Pour into a bowl and leave to set at room temperature, whisking occasionally.
2 Heat the oven to 180C/gas Mark 4 and grease and line three 20cm (8in) loose-bottomed sandwich tins with baking parchment.
3 For the sponges, put the cocoa powder, light brown sugar, vanilla paste and 375ml boiling water in a bowl and whisk together until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside. Sieve the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together into another bowl.
4 Cream the remaining 200g of butter and the caster sugar together in a separate bowl until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing in a tablespoon of the flour mix after each egg. Add the rest of the flour, a third at a time, folding well to disperse any flour pockets.
5 Fold in the cooled cocoa mixture, then divide between the three tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
6 Remove from the oven, leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool.
7 For the decoration, melt the 150g of chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water.
8 Meanwhile, grease the underside of a baking tray with oil and pour the melted chocolate onto it. Leave to set, then drag a cheese plane over the surface to create curls. Keep these cool.
9 Place a cooled sponge on a cake stand and spread with about a quarter of the frosting. Place another sponge on top and spread with another quarter of the frosting. Place the remaining sponge on top, then spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake, swirling with a palette knife. Arrange the chocolate curls on top of the cake.